The TranslationOriginally printed
in French, the intial translation into English was based on the combined
results of google.translation
and
altavista.babelfish
and
modified by some remnants of high school French, circa 1967.Following an introduction
from Joe Tabler at Surfbooks.com to M. Philippe Zibin, Reunion Island,
Phillipe kindly checked and corrected the text and supplied a French
version with the correct punctuation.Many thanks to Joe
and Phillipe for their invaluable assistance.Introduction.The article is not
noted in DeLa Vega
et al. (2004) and not cited by Ben Finney himself in either his
Surfing–
The Sport of Hawaiian Kings (1966) or Surfing
– A History of the Ancient Hawaiian Sport (1996).

Note that Finey's
contention that surfriding developed from "a children's pastime" is one
of the very few,although in this
case crucial, elements of his analysis that is possibly questionable.Some (crude and
undeveloped) objections are:1. Children's pastimes
or games often mimic adult activity, for example toy boats, toy cars, toy
trains.2. Children's games
are often training for adult activity, in this case the development of
swimming skills.Such surf swimming
skills are critical when attempts to negotiate the surf zone in canoes
(for example, whenreturning from fishing)
are unsuccessful.3. Childrens toys,
in this case their boards, are often constructed by adults.4. The inherent
danger of the activity probably requires some level of adult supervision.

Also note, a number
of early reports identifying juvenile surfriders may be a result of the
observer witnessing theactivity in benign
and relatively common climatic conditions (that is, small surf), whereas
adult surfriders aremore likely to test
their skills in more extreme, and much rarer, swell events.

The other crucial
assumptions that probably deserve further analysis are the identification
of "true surfboards"as essentially based
on length (1996, page 24) and the implication that "true surfing" is in
a standing position(1996, also page
24).While length is
important, surfboard performance is also function of width and volume.By concentrating
on riding in a standing position, certainly the dominant method in 1966,
the analysis does notaccount for other
indicators of surfriding skill, principally wave size, directional manourves
and critical positioning.For example, in
the period 1965 to 1969, some commentators consider the world's best, strictly
in terms ofsurfriding performance,
was Californian kneeboarder, George Greenough.

In the following
extract, Finney's footnotes are in standard brackets (1), my footnotes
with a link are in square brackets [1].

ENGLISH
TRANSLATIONPage 53

Fa'ahe'e:
Ancient sport of Tahiti.

During research on the sport of "surfing" [1]
from Hawaii, I had the occasion to discover facts little known about the
sport such as it was practised across Oceania. [2]Initially, I found that "surfing", which can be defined as proceeding
on a sliding wave while supported by a board [3],
was an ancient sport of Polynesia, Melanesia, and Micronesia.Then I discovered
that if, as is well known, "surfing" has had its greater development in
Hawaii, it was also much practiced in Tahiti. [4]This article
describes "surfing" in Tahiti and compares it with Hawaiian "surfing".

In Tahiti, many
travellers observed and described this game (sport?).Several writers,
Cook (1)[5], Bligh (2)[6], and Morrison (3)[7], wrote
that the sport was popular at Matavai Bay and the missionary William Ellis
(4), wrote that he often saw from fifty to one hundred occupied with this
sport at Fare, Huahine.

According to J. A. Moerenhout, the sport was practised where
there were cuts in the reefs, and he writes that "surfing" "consisted of
being carried by the waves of the sea, while being held on their tops (crests?),
the most pleasant recreation of all those which they were create in water.This exercise was located where there are openings in the reefs,
where the sea breaks with more fury.Among all exhibitions
of strength or skill that men, in various countries, have achieved, I do
not know any who exceed this one or which causes more astonishment at first
sight.In general, they
have a board from three to four feet length, with which they gain the sea
at a certain distance, watching for the waves, plunging under those which
are not strong enough, and while thus letting several roll on their head,
until a very high one approaches and the spectators, always gathered in
a large number, shout from the shore to announce them.Laying on their
board, they await the swell; and, at the time it approaches them, they
give a movement which makes them to reach the top...

Page 54

... from where
they are seen, at once, carried, with the speed of an arrow, towards the
shore, on which one would believe that they will be thrown in tatters;
but, when they are very near, a small movement makes them turn over and
leave the wave, which, almost at the same moment, breaks with a crash on
the sands, or on the rocks, while the native, with (the?) flood,
and without never leaving his board, leaves, while laughing, in order to
start again his terrible game.Men and women
enjoy this entertainment, with the (its?) madness and are exerted
there since their more tender youth; also some acquire a practice which
is incredible.I saw some, in
a very large swell, to jump onto their knees on the board, and while thus
balanced, the flood carried them with an alarming speed ".

According to Ellis,
"surfing", that Tahitians called fa' ahe' e or horue, was mainly an entertainment
for the adults (6).Moreover, according
to Morrison, the chiefs (ari' i), women as well as men, were most skilful
at "surfing" (7).

Ellis also writes
that Tahitians had a god of surfing, Huaouri (8).

As we have already
noted, Hawaiian "surfing" was the most developed form of sport.In short, we
can characterize Hawaiian "surfing" as a sport which was practised by the
men and the women, and especially by the chiefs, and the Hawaiians often
stood on boards measuring up to 18 feet length.Hawaiian surfing
contrasts with the majority of Oceania, where it was mainly practiced by
young people, who lay flat on their belly on boards of three or four feet
length (9).

However, in Tahiti,
as we have already indicated, adults, and especially the chiefs, practised
this sport.Thus, Tahitian
"surfing", from the point of view of the participants, resembled Hawaiian
"surfing". There is another point of comparison between the two, because
there are indications that Tahitians, as well as Hawaiians, stood
on their boards.The Tahitians
usually rode laying down on the belly, or on the knees on their boards,
but Morrisonwrote that experts
were standing on their boards (10).Moreover, the
Tahitian boards ...

Page 55

... did not reach
the (level of?) development of Hawaii, probably not having constructed
boards over 5 feet long.

Thus, considering
the participation of the adults and the chiefs, and that the experts stood
on their boards, we can say that Tahitian surfing was almost as highly
developed as Hawaiian surfing , in spite of the shorter boards (11).

In 1888, C. F.
Gordon-Cummmgs, after a six month visit in Tahiti, writes that he did not
see "surfing" at all there (12).However, Teuira
Henry writes in 1928 that (the?) sport was seldom practised in that
time (13).In 1956 I had
the occasion to visit Tahiti and several other islands of French Oceania.I saw young people
surfing at Takapoto, Tuamotu islands, and at Hiva-Oa, in the Marquesas
Islands, but I did not observe surfing on Tahiti.

This raises the
question, did fa'ahe'e , an ancient sport of Tahiti, completely disappear?

Morrison, JamesThe Journal
of James Morrison. London, 1935.
Notes1.
It
is unclear why "surfing" has been enclosed in inverteted commas, but it
is used consistently throughout the paper.

2.
See
Finney, Ben R: "Surfboarding in Oceania: Its Pre-European Distribution."Weiner Volkeerkund
Liche Mitteilungen
(Viennese Ethnological Bulletin)Vienna, Austria
1959 (SB) pages 2:23 to 36.Noted in:DeLaVega,
Timothy T. et al.: 200 Years of Surfing Literature - An Annoted Bibliography Published
by Timothy T. Dela Vega. Produced in
Hanapepe, Kaui, Hawaii. 2004, page 41."The summer after
I received my M.A. I was studying German in Vienna, in preparation for
my PhD studies which required that I be able to read at least two other
scientific languages besides English.Anyway the editors
of the "Viennese Ethnological Bulletin" asked me for an article from my
thesis, so I wrote this one about the distribution of surfing around the
entire Pacific, not just Hawai'i and Polynesia."Ben Finney (4/7/03).

3.
Finney's definition excludes body and canoe surfing, two closely related
activities that, in terms of the historial development of surfriding skills,
are probably deeply interconnected.Specifically, before
the universl adoption of the leg rope (circa 1975), efficient body surfing
skills were required to retrieve lost boards and were crucial to the rider's
safety.Pedants may note
that the definition would also exclude inflatable fabric craft.

4.
The
development of Polynesian surfriding to a high art in Hawaii was probably
significantly enhanced by the islands' superior surfriding resources, still
in evidence today.

5.
Finney's source for "Cook" is probably an account of canoe surfing at Matavai
Bay:

"He went out from
the shore till he was near the place where the swell begins to take its
rise; and, watching its first motion very attentively, paddled before it
with great quickness, till (it) had acquired sufficient force to carry
his canoe before it without passing underneath.He sat motionless,
and was carried along at the same swift rate as the wave, till it landed
him on the beach.Then he started
out ... and went in search of another swell.I could not help
concluding that this man felt the most supreme pleasure while his was driven
so fast and smoothly by the sea."

The location
is not identified, although likely to be Matavai Bay, and the quotation
is possibly incomplete.

Warshaw credits the
quote to James Cook, as does DeLaVega et. al,
who note on page 15:

Cook, James 1728-1779
(First written description of surfing, first drawing of a surfboard)A26_ A Voyage
to The Pacific Ocean Undertaken by Command of his MajestyFor Making Discoveries
in The Northern Hemisphere Peifonned Under Captains Cook, Clerke, Gore
in Years 1776, 1777, 1778 and 1780, being a copious and Satisfactory Abridgement
(London: 1784)...."In (Cook, 1784)
Vol. II, Chapter 9, 1777, Capt. Cook describes canoe surfing in Tahiti."

In a personal email,
July 2006, Patrick Moser, Drury University, noted (amoungst other important
information):"the famous description
of Tahitian canoe riding by William Anderson (not James Cook) on Cook's
third voyage".

Sincere thanks to
Patrick Moser for his substantial contribution to this subject.

I am currently unable
to determine the complete quotation and the original reference beyond that
as noted by Dela Vega et. al.

This 1777 account
is not, in fact, the first report of surfriding.An earlier report
of surfriding in Tahiti was recorded on Cook's fifst Pacific expedition
on the Endeavour by a member of the crew, Joseph Banks in 1769.

Bank's surfriding
report, although transposed to Cook's voice, was first published in:

Hawkesworth, John:
An
Account of the Voyages in the Southern Hemisphere by Commodore Byron, Captain
Carteret, Captain Wallis and Captain Cook.Drawn up from the
Journals which were kept by the several Commanders and from the Papers
of Joseph Banks, Esq.In Three VolumesPrinted for W. Strahan
and T. Cadell in the Strand,1773.http://southseas.nla.gov.au/journals/hv23/contents.htmlThe surfriding report
appears on pages 135 to136.

Bank's complete
journal become available in 1962:

Banks, Joseph: The
Endeavour Journal of Joseph Banks 1768 - 1771.Edited by J. C.
BeagleholeThe Trustees of
the Public Library of New South Wales in Association with Angus and Robertson89 Castlereagh Street,
Sydney. Second Edition 1963. First published February 1962. Two VolumesThe surfriding report
appears in Volume 1, page 281.

5. Bilgh's
edited account, as published in 1937 and cited by Finney reads:

"The heavy surf
which has run on the shore for a few days past has given great amusement
to manyof the natives,
but is such as one would suppose would drown any European.The general plan
of this diversion is for a number of them to advance with their paddles
to where thesea begins to
break and, placing the broad part under the belly, holding the other end
with their armsextended full
length, they turn themselves to the surge and balancing themselves on the
paddles arecarried to the
shore with the greatest rapidity."

Bligh, William, (1754-1817):The log of the
Bounty; being Lieutenant William Bligh's log of the proceedings of His
Majesty'sarmed vessel
Bounty in a voyage to the South Seas, ... Now published for the first
time from themanuscript in
the Admiralty records, with an introduction and notes by Owen Rutter, comments
onBligh's navigation
by Rear-Admiral J. A. Edgell ... and four engravings on wood by Lynton
Lamb.Golden Cockerel
Press, London,1937. Two volumes.Volume 1, pages
408 to 409.

The full accreditation
was contributed by email in May 2007, with thanks, by Daved Marsh.

A more extensive
account was published in 1978:Bowker, R.M. and
Bligh, Lt. William:Mutiny!! Aboard
HM Armed Transport 'Bounty' in 1789Bowker and Bertram
Ltd.Old Bosham, Sussex,
England 1978.The surfriding report
is on page 262.

The importance of
this account is Bligh's observation that surfriding occurred in conjunction
with "The heavy surf which has run on the shore for a few days past".Bligh, and Morrison-
see below, witnessed surfriding at Matavai Bay in extreme swell conditions.Calculations based
on journal entries and Bligh's charts indicate the waves were possibly
up to twenty feet.